A Quiet Mind
by TheSoggyBug
Summary: HtTYD2 SPOILERS. Two weeks after the battle with Drago, repairs to Berk are complete, and the village is having a party. However, the restoration isn't the only thing they have to celebrate. No matter how hard he tries, though, Hiccup will never stop being the dork he's always been, and he is convinced he will never be the chief Berk wants him to be. HICCSTRID


Hiccup was having a problem, and unfortunately, it wasn't a leaky roof.

He paced around the fire pit in his house, wearing a groove in the floor with his worry. The ceremonial chief's cloak was gripped in his hand, dragging on the floor behind him, and the ceremonial chief's belt was loose around his waist, but that did not change the fact that he simply wasn't ready.

A knock on the front door of his house brought Hiccup from his pacing. He didn't want any visitors. It was probably his mom, and though Hiccup was more than grateful to have her back in his life, he didn't want to see her.

With a sigh heavy with anxiety, Hiccup broke his pattern and went to open the door.

"What are you still doing here?" Astrid invited herself in right away, closing the door behind her. "It's past noon and everyone is in the Great Hall waiting for you."

"Astrid, I can't do this," Hiccup tried, pressing his palms to his forehead.

"Yes, you can." The other Viking picked the cloak out of Hiccup's hands and clipped it over his shoulders. "You're freaking out. Just breathe."

Hiccup attempted to breathe, but it was made difficult because of the growing rock in his chest. It'd been there ever since the day his dad died. A rock settled into his heart and refused to leave, a solid mass of grief and panic. Vikings were supposed to unflappable and strong and…_stoic_. Death happened all the time, so why was it so hard to let this go?

Knowing the heartbreak and distress her new chief was feeling, Astrid's voice softened and she reached down to adjust the loose belt around his waist. "It's alright to be upset, Hiccup," she said, clipping the strap. "It's only been two weeks after…after everything, and the whole _village_ is upset, but you're the new chief now. We all depend on you."

When Hiccup looked away, Astrid put her hand on his cheek and made him look back. "_All _of us do. But hey, it's a celebration! You can't miss your own party."

"It's not just mine," Hiccup said, finally smiling as he pulled his boots on. "This is your celebration, too."

"Hey, I barely did anything last week." Her tone was light and honest, but her eyes sparkled.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about."

Astrid just smiled and straightened Hiccup's cloak one more time. "Enough dallying. The village is waiting for their chief."

"I know, I know. _Toothless!_" The call echoed through the small hutch, but there was no response.

"He was playing with Stormfly outside of the Great Hall when I passed," Astrid answered without even needing to hear the question. She pushed Hiccup with teasing impatience towards the door. "Even your dragon knows the importance of being on time."

After that, the two Vikings left the house in a hurry.

It was a small hike jogging down the hill from the chief's house to the giant, looming doors of the Hall. Hiccup's usual riding gear was awful running in, but add a massive furred cloak and a belt that weighed as much as he did, it was downright miserable.

To make matters worse, the sky was heavy with oncoming rain and the moisture made it even more difficult to breathe.

Hiccup arrived with Astrid at the Great Hall covered in sweat, muscles burning. No wonder his father had been so big and muscular; he wore that kind of stuff on a daily basis.

Toothless quickly spotted his rider and greeted him by knocking him onto the ground and burring happily on top of him.

"Good to see you, too, bud," wheezed Hiccup, struggling to push the dragon off his ribcage, "but we have to get in there."

It took a second to free himself, but finally Hiccup was able to get back up, straighten his cloak, and continue with Astrid up the steps, newly accompanied with Toothless, who kept snapping at passing butterflies.

The whole hall went quiet when the doors opened, but as quickly as it silenced it exploded in cheers. Hiccup tried to keep his hands from twitching as he was passed from Viking to Viking, being slapped on the back and shoulders shaken in a congratulatory manner. Most of them were holding chunks of meat or whole kegs of ale in their arms, which made the slapping and shaking less enjoyable than it already was.

Having a whole village of 300+ pound animals (not referring to the dragons; they were not invited except Toothless) greeting you was more painful than it sounds, and when the ruckus died down, Hiccup was convinced he'd broken all three of his limbs and had some internal bleeding going on.

It was only when the greeting was over Hiccup really got to look at the Great Hall. Gobber and Valka, both whom had been wonderfully helpful in his transition to chief, promised to make the Hall look spectacular for the event.

It did look _pretty_ good; glowing lanterns were strung on ropes draped from the ceiling; bunches of flowers were pinned to the walls, wrapping surfaces in a girly touch (which was hopefully his mom's idea and not Gobber's); the tables that were usually in the Great Hall were all shoved up against one side and piled with a wide assortment of meats, breads, desserts, fresh fruits and vegetables, and endless barrels of every drink Berk had to offer.

It took a minute to let everything soak in, but once it did, Hiccup managed to make his legs move himself up onto the raised floor in front of the fire pit, where his dad used to stand at those kinds of gatherings. At once, every pair of eyes in Berk was trained on him expectantly. Even though he'd practiced his speech several times alone at home, the ease his father always had did not come to him.

Hiccup straightened his cloak, feeling stupid. "So, uh… Hi guys."

Nearly everyone cheered, raising mugs of foaming drink in the air with such enthusiasm that Hiccup was splattered with it.

"So…" He cleared his throat and wiped off his face, forcing his speech to come back to him. "It's been seventeen days since the battle with Drago's army, and Berk is basically back to normal. Asides from the random chunks of ice laying around the village, of course. So, uh, thanks to anyone who helped out in the rebuilding process."

Everyone cheered, and a few parents hoisted their kids up onto their shoulders to get a better look.

Despite feeling his lungs solidifying, Hiccup continued. "As we rebuilt, inventory was taken, too. The good news is that our food storage was barely messed with, so we're still in good shape for the winter."

Several Vikings grunted appreciatively and patted their stomachs.

"The bad news is that we lost quite a bit of livestock, so there will be less milk and eggs over the winter." After waiting for the chatter to die down again, the chief prepared for the rest of the speech. "So this marks the end of a bad month for Berk. We're celebrating the beginning of a new era of Berk and we're celebrating the loss of the best chief we've ever had, Chief Stoic the Vast. Odin be with him."

The crowd repeated the prayer, their heads turned toward the portrait of Stoic.

"There is one other reason to celebrate, though."

They turned back to their chief, readying themselves for another wild cheer.

Hiccup found Astrid near the front of the crowd, standing next to Valka, and he smiled at her. She grinned back and crossed her arms.

Summoning up the last bit of his courage, Hiccup raised his hands for silence, which was quickly granted. "I'm also taking this opportunity to officially announce mine and Astrid's engagement, as of earlier this week. Weather permitti—"

The cheer was deafening, interrupting whatever was going to be said next. Hiccup and Astrid's friends—Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Eret—were in the corner catcalling and making wild thumbs-up in their direction, as well as basically every other Viking in the room.

Toothless, who was getting riled with all of the excitement in the room, leapt up next to Hiccup and scooped his head under his chief's legs, throwing him onto his scaled back and jumping around.

The cheer lasted until the musicians struck up a lively tune, and everyone set down their food and drink to dance.

Toothless finally dropped Hiccup down right in time for Astrid to appear at his side, dusting invisible dust off his shoulder.

"See?" she said, smiling that little smile of hers. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Hiccup's eye caught the portrait of his father on the opposite wall, but he said nothing.

In response to his silence, Astrid took one of his hands in hers. "Do you want to dance?" However, she didn't even wait for an answer before dragging Hiccup into the mass of hairy Viking bodies.

The dancing wasn't the greatest thing Hiccup had ever done. He couldn't even really dance; some people claimed they had two left feet, but he didn't even have _one_ left foot. It was fun, though, seeing Astrid laughing as they spun together to the fiddles and bagpipes. It was only until a different song began, one with moves that everyone knew, that someone else turned up wanting to dance.

Valka stepped up in front of her son, dipping into a graceful bow. "Chief Hiccup," she said respectfully, grinning. "May I have this dance?"

"Of course." Hiccup bowed jokingly back, and he kissed Astrid's cheek to let her know he'd catch up with her later.

Even though Hiccup only really knew that particular dance just from watching other dance, he didn't need to concentrate that hard to know the moves. He was taller than his mom, too, which made things easier.

"So," Valka started, multitasking expertly, "for your first celebration planned as chief, this isn't bad."

"Thanks," Hiccup replied sarcastically, knowing that he didn't plan any of it, and he crossed both his arms over his mother in time. "I don't think I'm ever going to get good at this whole 'being chief' thing. I probably won't ever even _like_ it."

"That is no way for a chief to speak." Valka's tone, despite being quiet, sounded genuinely offended. "This village is yours, Hiccup. They don't want a chief that doesn't want _them_."

"I love my village, Mom, I just don't feel like I'm the best for the job. This is so much responsibility, almost _too_ much to put on a goofball's shoulders like mine."

"When it comes to being chief," she pulled one of her hands away to put it on her son's cheek, "it doesn't matter that the burden is heavy. It matters that you carry it."

"That makes me feel so much better."

Valka chuckled as they stepped into the last few moments of the dance. "You'll get the hang of it, son. Besides, you have so many people who are willing to help you. By this time next year it'll all just come naturally."

"I sure hope so," Hiccup responded sadly. He never missed his father quite as much as he did then. "I'm going to go sit down for a bit." He let go of Valka as the song ended and disappeared through the crowd again.

Not two minutes later, Hiccup found himself sitting at a table in the corner, watching orange light from the bonfire flicker on the walls. The sounds of laughter and celebration boomed from corner to corner, successfully drowning out the lesser, more desolate undertone of the party. Both of his hands were curled around a tankard of home-brewed beer, but he didn't even like the stuff.

"Easy, tiger," Astrid said, taking a seat next to her fiancé with her own tankard. "You're partying way too hard over here. Calm down or you'll hurt someone."

Hiccup smiled despite himself and took a drink, ignoring the awful taste. "Good evening, Milady. Are you having fun?"

Astrid shrugged in response, flicking her hair from her face. "It would be more fun if you joined me. This _is_ kind of an engagement party, too, or have you not heard the news?"

"All I heard was some stupid Viking asked you to marry him and you blindly said yes, not thinking about whether or not this Viking of yours is suited for much more than making spiffy leather outfits."

"Hiccup, stop that." Turning Hiccup's face towards hers with a hand, Astrid forced his eye contact. "I said yes because you're the strongest, bravest, most selfless and _wonderful_ person I've ever known. You're not allowed to put yourself down like that just because you're a little nervous of being chief, okay? It's ridiculous. _You're_ ridiculous."

"That doesn't change anything." After taking another drink, Hiccup had a coughing fit and nearly puked his alcohol up. Eyes streaming, he glanced over and pointed to Astrid's mug. "What's that?"

"Cider."

They traded and sat there in their own bubble of silence for a while. Astrid drained her tankard like a champ, while Hiccup enjoyed his cider a whole lot more.

"So… Your mother invited me over for dinner tonight," Astrid said after a while, propping her head up on her hand.

"Uh-oh." Hiccup knew how well known Valka was for her lack of culinary skills, and he didn't want to subject anyone to that. "I guess that means we'd just better get home before she does so she doesn't have the chance to so much as stoke the cooking fire."

"We still have a couple hours," Astrid laughed, "but even though you're right, it was still sweet of her to invite me. Everyone's been surprisingly nice."

"Well, you're the chief's future wife. That means you'll be in charge of the rest of the chiefs. They'd _better_ be nice." All that came out without Hiccup really meaning for it to, and he suddenly became very interested in the bottom of his cider mug. He could practically feel Astrid's eyes drilling holes through the side of his head.

_Why did you say that?_ he thought, wanting to crawl under the table in embarrassment. He basically just implied that they were going to have children together, which is definitely _not _something anyone should do just days after their engagement.

"Hey, Hiccup!"

Hiccup glanced up to see a burly, middle-aged woman standing over him with an empty tankard.

"We're out of cider and nearly out of ale," she said, though the pink of her face suggested that she really didn't need any more alcohol.

Hiccup, however, was more than glad for an excuse to get away. He agreed, and within seconds, he'd ditched Astrid to go down into the cellar for more drinks.

The party went on for a while. People boasted to one another their part in Berk's cleanup.

"_I supervised rebuilding all the houses."_

"_Well, _I_ was the one who supervised rebuilding our fleet."_

"_My dragon melted more than half of all the Bewilderbeast's ice here."_

"_I killed the Bewilderbeast with my bare hands."_

"_I _**was**_ the Bewilderbeast."_

Hiccup thought most of it was all nonsense, but he let people brag. It was better than mourning.

It was difficult, but for the most part, he managed to avoid engaging Astrid in actual conversation for the rest of the celebration, so she never had a chance to punch him for what he said earlier. He made sure that every time she caught up with him, he was either too close to the musicians to hear her or was way too busy doing chiefly things like making sure there was enough roast boar to go around.

Around the time the sun was nearing the horizon again, Gobber was the one who stopped Hiccup long enough to talk.

"Oh, chiefly one!" The weighty Viking hobbled after Hiccup as fast as his one leg could carry him. "Stop for a moment, Hiccup. I don't think we're going to need a whole other barrel of wine."

Hiccup, who'd been hiding from Astrid behind a massive barrel, peered out from behind it at the sound of his friend's voice.

"Where's Astrid, I wonder?" the older Viking thought aloud suddenly, looking around and visibly readying his lungs to call for her.

"No, no, that's okay," Hiccup said quickly, setting the tub down. "She's…busy."

"Oh. Alrighty, then. Anyways, I just came to find you and say that people are starting to get a little crazy on all the alcohol you've given them. I say it's time to start wrapping things up. If you want, you can go and leave the cleaning up to old Gobber." Gobber gave a reassuring swing of his arms, knocking down a tray of meats. He winced. "Maybe I'll recruit a few others, too."

"It's fine, Gobber," Hiccup tried, and he reached down for the fallen meat. Toothless beat him, though, sliding onto his stomach and inhaling the food before anyone else could touch it. "I'm the chief; I should be the one seeing that this place gets picked up."

"Nope. I'm not taking 'no' for an answer. I clean up." The crippled Viking chuckled, rubbing his mustache. "You can't avoid Astrid forever."

"What? How would you know I'm avoiding her?"

"You just dove behind that table when she walked by."

Hiccup stood, adjusting his cloak nonchalantly. "Yeah, well, it's for a good reason."

"Well, if that's really the case, you'd better get out of here soon. She's coming this way."

Sure enough, Astrid was strolling in an incredibly determinate and exasperated manner, like she was going to find Hiccup whether he wanted her to or not, and she was going to give him a piece of her mind.

"Oh, gods." Hiccup groaned, shoulders slumping in defeat, because he accidentally caught his fiancé's eye. "Fine. I'll deal with this, and you get everyone out of here."

Gobber chuckled again, as if he'd told himself a hilarious joke, and shoved himself back into the crowd of Vikings, shouting that the party was over. However, even through the sound of a lot of drunken disappointment, Hiccup could hear his name being called.

"_Hiccup_."

Inwardly wincing, Hiccup turned around to meet Astrid. "Astrid!" he exclaimed, putting his best happy poker-face on. "You finally caught up with me, eh?"

"You'd better explain yourself on the way home," she said, glaring at him with the ferocity of a very gorgeous, very angry dragon. She tossed her hair out of her face and crossed her arms officiously. "When are we leaving?"

"_Everyone out!" _Gobber yelled from the raised floor space, his voice echoing through the whole Great Hall. "_Party's over! Face out of the wine barrel, Hork. I want this place cleared out in ten."_

"Great." Without waiting for her fiancé to say anything, she grabbed his wrist, whistled to Toothless, and just like that, they left the party.

To nobody's surprise, it was raining. It was the kind of friendly rain that left nothing dry. Ever. Hiccup briefly considered suggesting that they fly back home, but Astrid knew as well as he that the dragons _hated_ flying in heavy rain, so it would be better if they went on foot.

Stormfly met the three of them on their way out, clicking her teeth happily and nuzzling her rider in the back.

"Hey girl," Astrid greeted the dragon, scratching her under the chin. "At least _someone_ around here wants to see me."

"Hey, I _do_ want to see you, it's just—"

A pointed glance from Astrid made Hiccup shut up. He sighed heavily, ignoring his own dragon's affectionate nudges as they walked back from the Great Hall.

About halfway home, Hiccup finally relented, the pressure breaking him. "Astrid, I'm sorry I avoided you, okay?" He paused to unstick his prosthetic leg from a sinkhole and wipe some water from his eyes.

"You'd better be." Although Astrid didn't miss a beat, her tone was gentler, if not slightly exasperated. She punched her fiancé in the shoulder. "It was our _engagement_ party. It wasn't any fun without the both of us having fun together."

"I know, and I'm sorry." The chief stopped, knowing his face was red but also knowing he had to continue. "I-I just didn't mean to say something that stupid, and I got flustered, and…"

"Hiccup."

He looked over at Astrid, expecting her to be glaring or something, but her expression was just of amusement. Even in the rain, she was beautiful. Okay, _especially_ in the rain, she was beautiful.

"You were being _honest,"_ she said. "Sure, it was a really stupid thing for you to bring up only a week after we got engaged, but I was more upset at you running away than you being stupid. You're always stupid." A smile cracked across her face and she kissed Hiccup's cheek. "Now say you're sorry again so you can stop pouting and we can beat your mother to the kitchen."

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh. "Fine, fine. I'm sorry. Now let's go."

The two Vikings hurried the last of their journey to Hiccup's home to make it before Valka did. They succeeded, and stumbled sopping-wet into the cover of the house. After shaking himself thoroughly off, Toothless helped light the fire in the main area as Hiccup and Astrid prepared a stew over it.

They were stirring the pot when Valka finally did arrive.

The older Viking snorted when she saw them cooking. "I _know_ I'm a bad cook," she said, patting Cloudjumper on the nose before he left for shelter, and she entered the rest of the way. After inhaling deeply, Hiccup's mother made a noise of approval. "That smells wonderful, though."

The other two Vikings smiled their thanks, and Valka sitting down next to them made a lopsided triangle around the fire.

"So Astrid," Valka began after only a few seconds pause. She scooted around a little to be closer. "How has your life been? We barely got a chance to talk at the celebration."

Astrid laughed with exhaustion and sighed. "Crazy, although I'm sure it's been like that for everyone after the battle."

"Aye. It's been quite the task rebuilding after such destruction like that."

"We've had a lot of practice, especially ever since the dragons moved in. Hiccup," Astrid said, snorting a little as a funny memory came back to her, "do you remember that one time last year when those wild boars stampeded through the village and we tried to use our dragons to round them up?"

The house was filled with warmth and laughter as Hiccup remembered, too.

"That was unbelievable," he said, wiping his eyes. "Who knew dragons liked to eat boars, too? It was like trying to herd mice with cats. I swear, it took us a whole week just to rebuild all the things they destroyed."

"At least we got some decent meat for winter storage out of it."

"True."

As Hiccup and Astrid chortled at their fond memories, Valka's expression grew steadily sadder.

It was only when he saw his mom's face he stopped laughing. He touched Valka's shoulder. "Are you okay, mom? You got really quiet all of a sudden."

"I'm sorry," Valka said, sitting straighter and shaking the unhappiness away. "Every time I hear stories like that it does get me a little down. I feel so guilty for not being a part of your life all these years, son." Her voice grew thick with her accent and tears. "I try not to think about it but sometimes I remember that I haven't been there for you this whole time and it breaks my heart."

Hiccup and Astrid exchanged a quick glance. They knew that topic was sensitive, especially after Stoic's death.

"You're here now, though, Mom," Hiccup said reassuringly, stirring the stew. "That's what counts."

Valka smiled forlornly. "Oh, I suppose you're right. What am I saying? I have the best family in the world now: a son who is Berk's greatest hero and the best daughter-in-law a Viking can ask for."

Everyone smiled, but no one mentioned Stoic, even though each of them was thinking it.

When the stew was done, each of them took a bowlful and a piece of fresh bread, and they all sat together to eat. Valka kept asking Astrid about her and Hiccup's childhood.

"He was the only one who didn't want to play hide-and-go-maim with the rest of us," Astrid would say.

"You never _allowed_ me to play!"

"Because you'd cry every time one of us hit you."

They exchanged stories and laughed and Valka kept asking Astrid more questions until they were all quite certain she knew her life story by the end of dinner.

The next time there was a lull in the conversation, it was clear they were all done. The sky outside was a blanket of darkness, and the only sound in the cabin was the crackle of the fire and Toothless searching for any rats that would've looked for shelter from the rain in the corners of the cabin.

Eventually, Valka yawned, breaking the silence. "I think it's time for me to call it a night," she said, standing up and setting her bowl on the squat table next to the kitchen door. She hugged both Hiccup and Astrid tightly. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay the night, Astrid?" she offered to the other woman, motioning to the loft. "There's an extra bed up there, if you don't mind me snores."

"I'm alright, thank you," Astrid turned down politely. "I'd like to stay down here for another bit."

"Of course. Well, have sweet dreams." Picking up her staff, Valka said one last goodbye and clambered up the narrow stairs to the loft.

No matter how much he tried convincing her, Hiccup was not able to persuade his mother to take the master bed in his father's old room. Instead, his mom happily took the loft, leaving the chief to have the chief's rightful bedroom. Hiccup wasn't ready to go to bed yet, though, and instead he settled back down next to Astrid in front of the fire.

They were quiet for a while, staring into the burning wood, letting the light imprint the backs of their eyelids. After a minute, Astrid crawled over next to Hiccup, and Hiccup put his arm around her.

"How are you doing?" Astrid asked softly, glancing at the other Viking through her bangs.

Hiccup wasn't sure how to respond. He felt so many things rolling around inside of him it was hard to know exactly what he felt. Of course he was happy for their engagement; he loved her more than anything, and he had wanted to marry her for years, but every time he thought of their future he would think of his father.

Stoic had loved someone as much as Hiccup loved Astrid, yet she was taken away. He was still Berk's greatest chief, and it was a lot to live up to. Hiccup really couldn't imagine losing Astrid and still being chief—a _great_ chief, nonetheless. Hiccup hadn't even been given a title yet. He was probably going to be something like Hiccup the Not-So-Vast-or-Great, or Hiccup the Weedy-and-Awkward.

At the party, though, everyone seemed to accept him so much. They loved the idea of Hiccup being chief, and he couldn't let any of them down. He didn't want to risk it. Even thinking about it made his stomach turn with guilt and regret.

"Not so good, huh?" Astrid guessed when she didn't get a reply. She shifted in Hiccup's arms a little and began braiding another bit of his hair right behind his left ear. "I know there's nothing I can say to fix it, b—"

"Hey, Astrid?" Hiccup turned his head and looked at the other Viking. The fire was reflected in her blue eyes, dancing like a sea of flame.

There was a surprised squeak from the corner, where Toothless obviously had success in catching himself a rat.

Astrid's eyebrows knit a little. "What?"

"Will you stay tonight?"

When she was silent, Hiccup reached over and touched her cheek, feeling his heart softened by the hush of the moment. "I just feel a lot better when you're with me. You don't have to stay if you don't want to, of course. I just...you know…"

With every passing second, Hiccup regretting asking more and more. His cheeks burned and insides rolled around, and he was about to take his arm away from Astrid before she at long last said something.

"Of course I'll stay with you," Astrid said as if it was completely obvious, as if she hadn't taken as long as she did responding. "My parents might notice I'm gone, but they shouldn't care." She tugged playfully on the braid she was still holding, and then smiled in the firelight. "Now, can I ask _you_ a favor?"

"Anything."

"Can you take your gear off? You smell kind of like an ox that died and was left in the rain for a week."

Hiccup started laughing, and it was difficult to stop. He hadn't realized that he was still wearing his giant fur cloak, and he was so used to his rider's gear he hadn't noticed its awful wet-leather smell. After being soaked in rainwater and left on, of course it wasn't going to be wonderful.

"I wouldn't say you smelled like roses, either," Hiccup joked, standing up and going over to the roughly-hewed coat hanger in the corner. "Your hood collected rain like a soggy bucket."

Astrid let out a sarcastic noise and got up, too, to join him. Toothless' eyes followed the two Vikings with endearing curiosity, all interest in rats lost.

There at the coat hanger, they shed all of their outer gear.

Hiccup unclipped, unzipped, unbuckled, untied, and shucked off nearly everything he was wearing. Once he was just in his tunic and trousers, it felt like he was fifty pounds lighter—and he probably was.

Astrid only had to take off her bulky shoulder things, her gloves and her giant boots before stretching.

"I never realize how restricting all that is until I take it off," she said, sighing in comfort and rubbing both her shoulders.

"I know what you mean." Hiccup checked, and he indeed smelled much better than he did before.

They made sure the fire in the main room wasn't in danger of setting anything else on fire, and when they were sure, they left to go to Hiccup's room. Toothless followed them, knowing that he wasn't allowed in Hiccup's room but also knowing he wouldn't be scolded. Not seconds after Astrid and Hiccup laid down side-by-side on the bed, the Night Fury leapt on top, too.

"Hey!" both Vikings yelled at the same time as the dragon settled on top of their legs.

Toothless barely fit on the bed with them, though thankfully, Stoic left his son his extra-extra-large chief's bed. After circling to get comfortable, trampling the same legs several times, he settled down with his head wedged between Hiccup and Astrid's own heads.

"Bud, we can't…we can't breathe," Hiccup wheezed, struggling to get his dragon's heavy leg off his chest.

Toothless just flicked out his tongue, coating the side of his rider's face with sticky saliva.

"_I think someone's jealous_," whispered Astrid across the dragon head, and she reached out her hand.

Hiccup took it, rolling his eyes in apology. "Thanks, Astrid. Good night."

Like that, hands laced over Toothless' neck, the day finally caught up with them and the two Vikings fell asleep.

**oOo**

_Hey, guys! Thanks for reading. A few of you are wondering if this is just a one-shot or if it's going to have more chapters. Unfortunately, it's just a one-shot. Unless I decide to write more, obviously, which I probably will not, but I do appreciate the support!_

_xoxo_

_If you liked it, please review!_


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